NOTES: More than 10 years after she had made her debut
in Santo's first Mexican feature, Santo contra los zombies, Irma
Serrano was teamed again with the silver-masked man. By 1971, Serrano had
become famous (or notorious) as the alleged mistress of a Mexican
president, had appeared in numerous films (although her career had
stalled, possibly due to an unofficial, politically-motivated blacklist),
and was also making a name for herself as a singer. She had also had
plastic surgery on her nose and had re-made her image considerably.

El Aguila real is a combination ranchera and old
house-mystery, and Santo seems rather out of place in the nominal hero's
role. There is one arena wrestling scene, rather awkwardly inserted, but
otherwise he's just a strong guy with a mask dropped into a rural
milieu where few of the people recognize him (so much for his
widespread fame).

Much of the film was shot on location, and the actual hacienda and
environs are interesting and attractively presented. The technical
aspects of the film are satisfactory, except that a fair number of the
scenes seem too dark (perhaps a problem with the video transfer on the
version I saw). Carlos Suárez is the comic "relief," not something
he was ideally suited for (he gets his own little "funny" musical theme),
but his scenes aren't as painful as those he shares with Arturo Cobo in
Chanoc y el Hijo del Santo contra los vampiros asesinos. The rest
of the cast is adequate.

This film probably wins some sort of prize
for the most animals killed (in actuality or implied) in a film that has
nothing to do with hunting or nature. To enumerate: a horse and rider
fall down a steep slope (the horse takes a VERY rough fall), a cat
is poisoned (this scene is undercut by the fact that the cat obviously
ISN'T dead at all, despite what the actors say!), a rabbit is shot (for
real), a snake is attacked by the titular eagle (for real), dogs are
killed (off-screen), there is a real cockfight (Santo gets to keep the
dead loser), and the titular eagle is put in a sack and smacked against a
wall (apparently to no effect, since it's seen, safe and sound, at the end
of the movie).

A final note about the actual title of this picture: the opening
credits read "Santo y la Tigresa/Irma Serrano, la Tigresa/en El Aguila
Real" (on three separate cards). So the "official" title from the film
itself seems to be El Aguila Real, but reference books often list
it as Santo y el águila real, and the video version I saw
has Santo y la Tigresa on the box.

After Raimundo, foreman on
the hacienda owned by Irma Morales, finishes a song, he is given a
telegram to send. The message is relayed to Santo on his car phone: Irma,
the daughter of an old (now deceased) friend of Santo, needs his help in a
matter of life or death. "Goodbye, vacation," Santo's sidekick Carlitos
complains. At Irma's hacienda, she explains that her brother died 3
months ago in a fall; since then, there have been two attempts on her
life. She thinks her neighbors covet her land and want to get her out of
the way.

That night, Santo, Irma and Carlitos go to a cockfight.
Irma's rival is Manuel Villafuerte, one of her neighbors. Manuel
encourages his wife (?girlfriend) Paloma to engage in a singing "duel"
with Irma: they alternate improvised verses, insulting each other (one of
Paloma's verses says Santo must wear a mask because he's so ugly!).
Irma's rooster kills Manuel's bird, earning her a large sum of money.
However, outside the palenque (cockfight arena), Irma and Santo are
attacked by three thugs. The men are driven off by Santo's wrestling
prowess and the whip-wielding Irma.

The next day, Irma and Santo are horseback riding when her horse is
struck with a poison dart (intended for her). Santo finds a long strand
of hair on a nearby bush, and later sends it off for analysis. At dinner,
Santo thinks the wine smells odd: tested on a cat, it proves to have been
poisoned. After everyone has gone to bed, someone enters Santo's room and
tries to stab him. After a fight, the assailant is exposed as Raimundo,
who was jealous of Santo's relations with Irma. No sooner has Raimundo
been locked up than Santo hears a noise outside and goes to investigate.
He's attacked by a long-haired hunchback and a tall guy, also with long
hair. Santo is knocked out, but Irma's pet eagle swoops in and drives the
hunchback and the giant away. The long-haired duo hides in their lair, in
the cellars beneath the hacienda.

Santo wrestles in a tag-team match
for charity (footage of an actual match is included, with inserts of
Carlitos and Irma cheering him on). Back at the hacienda, they discover
that Irma's guard dogs have been killed (although later we hear dogs
barking, so perhaps she got some more).

Later, while Santo and Irma are out hunting, Carlitos gets lost and
strays onto a neighboring ranch. He's about to be strung up as a cattle
thief, when Irma shoots the rope and Santo defeats the men (oddly enough,
although one of the 3 men is Fernando Osés, he does not
engage in the fight with Santo--only the other two men do).

The
hunchback puts a poisonous snake in Irma's bed, but her eagle saves her.
Later, a big flower pot falls and nearly crushes Santo and Irma. This
hacienda is not a healthy place to visit, apparently. Finally, Santo
finds the entrance to the hunchback's underground lair: the long-haired
hunchback is actually Alejandro, a bald hunchback who works on the
hacienda (that wig was a good disguise, apparently). He and his giant
associate attack Santo, get him VERY dirty, and finally whack him
with a shovel and leave him for dead.

Alejandro and the giant, after
stuffing Irma's eagle into a gunny sack, plan to kill Irma. Alejandro
explains, at length: he is really her uncle Jorge, her father's brother,
who was the black sheep of the family. The giant is Irma's half-brother,
the son of her father and Felisa, a servant on the hacienda. Because he
was "deformed" (he doesn't look it, although he is apparently somewhat
retarded), this illegitimate offspring was locked up in the hacienda's
cellars for 20 years. Now, Jorge says that he will control the hacienda
(through the giant) when Irma is dead. He starts to strangle Irma, who
calls to her half-brother for help. For some reason, the giant decides he
WILL help, and is shot dead by Jorge for changing sides. Before he dies,
the giant squeezes Jorge to death. And then, when it's all over, Santo
comes in!

As the film ends, Santo and Carlitos promise to come back
and visit Irma (and Alicia, her maid, whom Carlitos has been flirting
with).

Not a bad film, per se, but fairly atypical and thus not one
of the better Santos.